Sinai Peninsula: Training Hub for Terrorists to Fight in Syria

Local Editor

Tribal sources in North Sinai revealed that militiamen of foreign nationalities gather and train in Sinai, Egypt, to be deployed to Syria to fight the regime there.
Moreover, security sources reiterated that the nature of the region there provides such gathering, noting that defeating them requires an "aerial raid."

Egyptian al-Masri al-Youm daily cited in its issue published on Tuesday these tribal sources as stating that there are groups from foreign nationalities affiliated to fundamentalist organizations in the Sinai Peninsula.
Sources further pointed out that they freely localize and move, and make sure not to attack Army units or police unless the latter attempts on approaching these groups.

Furthermore, sources added that these elements exploit Sinai's mountainous nature to practice martial arts with various weapons.
These elements, sources reported, include extremists from Arab and non-Arab countries, as well as Egyptians, indicating that they are deployed to Syria after being trained on martial arts.

For his part, a security source accentuated that standing up to terrorist elements in Sinai could be achieved by a plan set by security and citizens, especially considering that the nature of Sinai provides a safe haven for these groups, guarding it with heavy weaponry. Therefore, the source said, aerial raids must be used to take them down.

On a similar note, Mohammad Sawareka, from the Sawareka tribe, stated that elements of al-Qaeda being in Sinai is a mischievous "Israeli" plot that aims at destabilizing the region and passing a scheme of summoning international forces to the border region.

Source: al-Masri daily, translated and edited by moqawama.org